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Jan. 26 & 27 and Feb. 1 thru 3, 2024

8:00 AM – 4:30 PM PST | 11:00 AM – 7:30 PM EST | 5:00 PM – 1:30 AM CEST

All sessions include breaks throughout the day

Are you responsible for helping people work through conflict?

Do you manage important conversations between clients, employees, team members, volunteers or other people?

Do you want to improve your ability to facilitate conversations of consequence?

Do you want to learn to mediate or enhance your conflict resolution skills?

In this gold standard mediation training, learn how to support parties working through conflict or engaging in other important conversations in a different way.  Our Understanding-Based model focuses on guiding parties to make knowing and informed choices together in a  respectful manner.  Highlights of our basic training, Working Creatively with Conflict, include:

• Positive neutrality –supporting all parties without taking sides
• The Loop of Understanding – enhancing understanding and empathy
• Creative Options — innovating to meet differing needs and interests
• A Foundation for the Future — building the groundwork for the parties to make effective and lasting decisions together now and in the future

Who Will Benefit From This Training?

Our participants include mediators, lawyers, collaborative professionals, business consultants, executive coaches, managers and supervisors, human resources professionals, ombuds-people, non-profit staff, and other people whose work will be enhanced by  increased skills in conflict resolution.  Participants report it is one of the top mediation programs they have taken.

What is the Format of the Training?

This hands-on online training features briefings on the core skills of the Understanding Based Approach, followed by lively demonstrations and role-plays, all of which immerse participants in the learning. Realistic simulations, in which participants work through mediations from beginning to end, with coaching from our teachers, offer participants the chance to hone their skills and experience the emotional challenges faced by parties in dispute. Participants describe these different modes of learning and their interplay as enjoyable as they are engaging and rewarding.

Who are the Trainers?

Catherine Conner has been a mediation and collaborative practice trainer since 2004. She is a frequent presenter at collaborative conferences and family law workshops. She authored Collaborative Practice Materials with Steven Neustadter and Margaret Anderson. Catherine Conner’s private practice focuses on family law alternate dispute resolution, including mediation, collaborative practice, and private judging. She graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1982 and is a founding partner of Conner, Lawrence, Rodney, Olhiser & Barrett, LLP. In 1992, Catherine became a Certified Family Law Specialist.  She has been honored as the recipient of the Rex Sater Award for Excellence in Family Law, the Eureka award by Collaborative Practice California and was the 2018 honoree for Careers of Distinction.  She was on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals from 2007-2014 and served as the President in 2013.

Melanie Rowen is a mediator and conflict coach who believes in the power of understanding-based conflict resolution to transform our world. She frequently trains individuals and groups on effective communication in conflict situations and on creating inclusive environments, particularly around gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Melanie previously litigated civil rights cases, including marriage equality, employment discrimination, issues involving transgender and gender non-conforming youth and their families, and issues facing LGBTQ+ elders, at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and served on the Board of Directors of the Transgender Law Center. Earlier in her career, she worked in business litigation at Latham & Watkins LLP, and for many years, she was the Associate Director for Public Interest Programs at UC Berkeley School of Law. Melanie currently works in attorney professional development at the Bay Area offices of a large law firm, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association for Law Placement.

Pat Lau has been a workplace mediator at Intel Corporation since 2010. After his first conflict management class many years ago, Pat became fascinated with alternative ways to address and resolve workplace conflict, especially after discovering the understanding-based model. Ten years ago, he co-founded – and continues to lead – Intel’s Collaborative Mediation Program, an in-house workplace mediation program to help resolve challenging conflicts between co-workers, peer managers, team members, supervisors, and subordinates. Pat has presented at numerous national conferences, published in the Corporate Mediation Journal, regularly volunteers as a mediator for small claims cases in the Portland Multnomah County Court system, and is also Past Chair of the Oregon Mediation Association Workplace Special Interest Group. Pat’s previous career was in engineering, and he holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from Stanford and Southern Methodist University.

What are the Logistics – When, Where, Cost?

The training session will be conducted through Zoom. After registration, you will receive a separate e-mail with Zoom connection details.

Participants are encouraged to log on around 7:50 AM PST / 10:50 AM EST to troubleshoot any technical issues and help ensure the programs can start on time everyday.

Each session will begin at 8:00 AM PST / 11:00 AM EST, with several breaks during the day to allow for a rest from being online and for meals. The sessions end each day at 4:30 PM PST / 7:30 PM EST.

Cost

The program training fee is $1,485.

A 5-10% discount is available for our CUC Connect members. Click here for more information.

Cancellation Policy

Please note our cancellation policy: If you cancel 4 weeks or more prior to the program, we return your deposit minus a $250.00 administration fee. Between 4 and 2 weeks prior to the program, we retain 50% of the total cost of the program unless we are able to find a replacement for your seat, in which case we will refund the fee minus the $250.00 administration fee. There are no refunds for cancellations less than two weeks prior to the program unless we can find a replacement.

Is there Continuing Education Credit?

California 

The Center for Understanding in Conflict is an accredited provider of California Continuing Legal Education by the State Bar of California.  The Working Creatively with Conflict Training —appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys — will qualify for 32 participatory and 8 self study CA MCLE credit hours.

New York

In New York, The Mediation Intensive Training will fulfill 40 NY MCLE credit hours (6.5 Ethics credits; 19.5 Professional Practice credits; and 14 Skills credits).  For continuing legal education purposes, the Mediation Intensive Training is appropriate for both newly admitted and experienced attorneys.

The Center’s in-person and online training has been approved under Part 146 by the New York State Unified Court System’s Office of ADR Programs. (Please note that final placement on any court roster is at the discretion of the local Administrative Judge and participation in a course that is either approved or pending approval does not guarantee placement on a local court roster.)

For additional information, please email us at [email protected] or call us at (844) 242-3428.

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